With practically all the good Italian players placed in the top half of the draw, a home country finalist was likely, although the eventual player to make it was not first seed Paolo Lorenzi. Potito Starace had the honor to play the final after ousting Lorenzi in a marathon match: 5-7 7-5 6-4. This meant his first top 100 victory since beating Kenny De Schepper in QR1 of Monte Carlo in April.
With Lorenzi at 32 years of age and Starace 33 this looked to be a tournament for the veterans, a trend that got confirmed in the bottom half, where Albert Montanes (33) and Daniel Gimeno-Traver (29) took on each other. They already had an extensive history of playing each other, with the head to head being dead even at 3-3. Their last meeting at Viña del Mar last year ended in a 6-4 6-4 victory for Gimeno-Traver. Things were different this time around, however, as Montanes took home the match in three sets: 6-7(4) 7-5 6-2.
This set up a repeat of last week’s match between Montanes and Starace in the first round of the San Marino Challenger, where Montanes booked a relatively easy victory: 6-2 7-6(3). This week’s final followed a similar pattern as Montanes crowned himself the 2014 Cordenons champion with a 6-2 6-4 victory. The final only meant a minor jump of five ranking spots for Starace, as he reached the semi-final last year, he now is ranked #156. For Montanes the jump was more significant, as he rose twenty spots to #114.
One thing is for sure: nobody predicted the Meerbusch winner correctly. The tournament began on a negative note with the match fixing scandal between Boy Westerhof and Antal van der Duim, which is currently being investigated by the Tennis Integrity Unit. More details on that are surely to come. The only top 100 player in the draw, top seed Albert Ramos, got upset in the first round by Mattias Bachinger in straight sets: 6-4 7-6(4). The other clear favorite to reach the final, Andrey Kuznetsov, didn’t disappoint as he made it. However, he was the only seeded player to reach the semi-finals as he was joined by #340 Jozef Kovalik, #289 Tristan Lamasine and #259 Peter Torebko, making Kuznetsov obviously the clear favorite with his 108th ranking spot.
However, it was 21 year old wild card Kovalik who absolutely crushed Kuznetsov in the final, winning 6-1 6-4. Amazingly enough he only dropped one set the entire tournament and even that match was a comfortable win: 2-6 6-2 6-0. This obviously resulted in a major ranking jump, as he rose 105 spots to #235, only five shy of his career high ranking of #230. Kuznetsov had some consolation as well, as he re-entered the top 100 at #97, a jump of eleven spots.
2014 Cordenons and Meerbusch Challenger Previews Chris De Waard, Tennis East Coast
A quiet week on the Challenger tour with only two tournaments being played, both European clay Challengers, one in Italy and the other one in Germany.
Cordenons Challenger
Cordenons Challenger 2014
Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia ATP Challenger Tour
Cordenons, Italy
August 11 – August 17
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds:(ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Paolo Lorenzi (79)
2: Daniel Gimeno-Traver (99)
3: Filip Krajinovic* (112)
4: Filippo Volandri (135)
5: Albert Montanes (141)
6: Adrian Ungur (157)
7: Potito Starace (162)
8: Rogerio Dutra Silva (167)
9: Andrea Arnaboldi (176)
The last direct acceptance is Antonio Veic, ranked 305th, although after his final at the San Marino Challenger last week he is ranked considerably higher: 236th. Ninth seed Arnaboldi takes the spot of Krajinovic*, who withdrew citing a right hip injury. Alessandro Giannessi entered the tournament as a special exempt after he reached the semi-final at the San Marino Challenger last week, where he took out #1 seed Simone Bolelli.
First round match-ups to watch
(8) Rogerio Dutra Silva vs. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo
36 year old Ramirez Hidalgo is seemingly indestructible, just when you think he is on the way out he strikes back with yet another good run. This happened at the Prague Challenger last week, where he made an incredible run to the semi-final, dropping only seven games in his three matches. Dutra Silva has always been a steady fixture in the 100-200 ranking region, but he lacks the game to take it further, even though his ranking peaked at #84 last year. This has three sets written all over it.
(4) Filippo Volandri vs. Jurgen Zopp
Volandri has been struggling immensely this year, starting at a position in the top 70 and dropping to his current ranking spot of #147. He hasn’t won back to back matches since the Rome Challenger in early May. Zopp has looked like a very promising player, reaching as high as world #71 in 2012, but his career has been severely disrupted by injury. He has been in the main draw of only four events this year, with a retirement of Tommy Haas in the first round of Roland Garros awkwardly being his best result. They have played each other twice, both at the ATP 250 event in Bastad, with each of them taking one match, so if Zopp is finally healthy he will have a chance to take out the seeded player.
Top Half:
Top seed Paolo Lorenzi looks like a safe bet to reach the final this tournament, his fellow Italian seeds Filippo Volandri and Potito Starace aren’t in great shape, while he comes off a great run at the ATP 250 event of Kitzbühel, where he beat Robin Haase and Pablo Andujar in straight sets to reach the quarterfinal, where he fell to the eventual winner David Goffin.
Lorenzi’s semi-final opponent is hard to predict since there are so many candidates. Outside of seeds Volandri and Starace you have two other Italians, Matteo Viola and Alessandro Giannessi, who play each other in the first round and are both capable of marching on to the semi-final. Even Jurgen Zopp isn’t a bad pick, providing he is healthy.
Bottom Half:
Second seed Daniel Gimeno-Traver has finally been freed from his nightmare Viktor Troicki, as the man who beat him in the two previous tournaments he played won’t be competing here. Nevertheless he still has a tricky road to the final, with Adrian Ungur and Albert Montanes being his projected opponents. Ungur just won the San Marino Challenger and despite his bad results on the main tour Montanes will always be a dangerous opponent.
Gimeno-Traver won the title here exactly ten years ago, beating ultimate bad boy crazy Daniel Koellerer in the final, so perhaps that’s an omen for things to come this week.
Predictions
Semis:
Lorenzi d. Viola
Gimeno-Traver d. Montanes
Final:
Gimeno-Traver def. Lorenzi
Gimeno-Traver will be really motivated to do well here after his previous two Challenger events ended in a defeat at the hands of Troicki. Combine that with his win here exactly ten years ago and I predict he will oust his higher ranked opponent in the final, although it will be close. They actually played each other in the final two years ago, with Lorenzi winning, but I have the feeling it will be the other way around this time.
Meerbusch Challenger
Meerbusch Challenger 2014
Maserati Challenger by Landsknecht 2014
ATP Challenger Tour
Meerbusch, Germany
August 11 – August 17
Prize Money: €35,000
Seeds: (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Albert Ramos (93)
2: Andrey Kuznetsov (107)
3: Andreas Haider-Maurer (116)
4: Julian Reister (124)
5: Gerald Melzer (146)
6: Jesse Huta Galung (192)
7: Radu Albot (211)
8: Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (223)
The last direct acceptance is Peter Torebko, ranked 316th. Youngsters Christian Garin, Laurent Lokoli and Philipp Davydenko have managed to qualify and might be able to pull off some surprises in this tournament. Comeback kid Philipp Petzschner has received a wild card, as well as the extremely erratic Attila Balazs.
First round match-ups to watch
Boy Westerhof vs. Antal van der Duim
This match between two Dutchmen has already been played by the time I’m typing this and it was a very controversial happening, which we will possibly hear more about in the near future. The meeting reeks of match fixing, as abnormal amounts of money were being wagered on the outcome and a lot of bookies pulled the match. Westerhof started out as the favorite, but his odds were quickly rising when the match was about to start and the scenario became clear: Van Der Duim would win 2-1 in sets after losing the first. Westerhof went up 6-4 3-0, but Van Der Duim was a comfortable favorite to win the match at that point. Van Der Duim went up 4-3, at which point his odd to win dropped to a ridiculous 1.02. Of course, he went on to win the set and ultimately the match.
Top Half:
As his seeding suspects, Albert Ramos is the clear favorite in this half. His previous two results in Challengers add to this confidence in him, as he reached the finals of two Italian Challengers in June, winning one of them. His semi-final opponent is difficult to predict, as the two Austrians holding the seeds there, Andreas Haider-Maurer and Gerald Melzer aren’t the most reliable players. But then again, the competition isn’t great, so it will probably be between them anyway. In that match-up the obvious pick is Haider-Maurer, who beat Melzer in straight just two weeks ago in Kitzbühel.
Bottom Half:
This is a very interesting half, as every young qualifier is in it, together with wild card Attila Balazs, who is able to beat everyone on a good day. Add to this that the seeds are all slumping and this half gets very difficult to predict. #2 seed Andrey Kuznetsov lost in the first round of the Prague Challenger against qualifier Thiago Monteiro, who is ranked outside of the top 400. #4 seed Julian Reister is on a five match losing streak. #6 seed Jesse Huta Galung has dropped 100 ranking spots after reaching his career high ranking of #92 in early February and #8 seed Hans Podlipnik-Castillo might well lose to Philipp Davydenko in the first round, who seems to have picked up his game as of late.
Predictions
Semis:
Ramos d. Haider-Maurer
Kuznetsov d. Davydenko
Final:
Ramos d. Kuznetsov
Davydenko will surprise and build on his Stuttgart result last month by reaching the semi-final here. Despite all the possibilities for upsets Kuznetsov has too much quality to be upset like that two weeks in a row. Nevertheless, Ramos will be too steady and confident to lose against him and will take the title.
Tennis Atlantic 